Crime Report: Lessons for Criminals Edition

This week’s Arlington County crime report includes several cases that may serve as important lessons for criminals. For instance, if you’re going to (allegedly) shoplift from The Gap, leave the 16 bags of cocaine at home.

POSSESSION WITH INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE (COCAINE), 02/10/12, 1100 block of S. Hayes Street. At 3:15 pm on February 10, a subject entered The Gap clothing store and placed items in a bag and left the store without paying. Store security detained the suspect for shoplifting. Upon arrival of officers, a further search of the suspect was conducted and a sandwich bag with 16 smaller bags of cocaine were located. Andreus Womack, 19, of Washington, D.C. was arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute and petit larceny.

Also, if you’re going to (allegedly) steal a car, do so before getting drunk.

GRAND LARCENY OF AUTO (RECOVERED), 02/14/12, 300 block of S. 23rd Street. At 2:50 am on February 14, officers spotted a stolen vehicle that was being driven erratically and activated the emergency lights. The driver attempted to speed away, but struck a concrete column and fled the scene on foot through a parking garage. Officers apprehended Joseph Bennett, 45, of no fixed address, and he was charged with grand larceny of an auto, driving under the influence, hit and run, refusal and driving on a suspended license.

Finally, if you’re going to (allegedly) try to stab a CVS employee with scissors, make sure you have a better getaway vehicle than Metro.

ATTEMPTED MALICIOUS WOUNDING, 02/12/12, 2100 block of N. 15th Street. On February 12 at approximately 5:30 pm, a suspect entered a store and tried to stab a store employee with a pair of scissors after being asked to leave. The suspect was located by officers in the Metro station, refused to obey police commands and continuously attempted to assault the arresting officers. A credit card and cell phone not belonging to the suspect were located during a search. Dana Brown, 28, of Landover, MD was charged with with assault and attempted malicious wounding.

As always, all suspects are innocent until proven guilty. The rest of this week’s crime report, after the jump.

ROBBERY WITH A GUN, 02/13/12, 2400 block of S. Lowell Street. At 10 pm on February 13, two suspects robbed two victims during an iPhone sale that was initiated online through Craigslist. One of the suspects displayed a handgun in his waistband, while the other suspect took the victims’ wallets and cash. The victims fled the scene in their vehicle and reported the incident to police. The suspects are described as black males, approximately 25-30 years old and were wearing blue jeans and black jackets at the time of the robbery.

ARMED ROBBERY, 02/09/12, 5000 block of S. 10th Street. Just before midnight on February 9, three black males approached a man walking home from work and demanded money. One of the subjects brandished a knife, while another went through the victim’s pockets. The subjects fled the scene with a small amount of money and the victim’s cell phone. A perimeter was established by police and a K-9 track initiated, followed by assistance from a US Park Police helicopter. All three suspects were located. Alyas Kahsay, 18, of Arlington; Majdi Mohammad, 21, of Bedford, NH; and Christopher Jiron, 18, of Falls Church, VA were charged with armed robbery.

ROBBERY, 02/09/12, 900 block of S. Adams Street. Around 8:30 pm on February 9, an unknown subject grabbed a female victim’s purse out her hands and ran away from the scene. Several witnesses chased the subject but were unable to locate him. Various items of value were inside the purse when it was stolen. The suspect is described as a black male, 5’7″ tall, average build and was wearing all black clothing during the robbery.

BURGLARY, 02/14/12, 700 block of N. Glebe Road. At 2:30 am on February 14, police located a suspicious person looking into parked vehicles. The suspect fled on foot and was apprehended for questioning. It was discovered the subject was in possession of various stolen items, including a work shirt from the burglary location that led officers to the crime scene. Matthew Blair, 25, of Alexandria, VA, was charged with burglary, possession of burglary tools, felony destruction of property, assault on a police officer, petit larceny, misdemeanor destruction of property and attempted larceny from an auto.

ASSAULT, 02/14/12, 800 block of S. Walter Reed Drive. On February 14 at 3:19 pm, a fight occurred in the 800 block of S. Highland Street, involving a current student from the Career Center and a former student. The former student was in possession of a handgun, which was recovered by school security staff during the altercation. The former student, Jimmy Salazar-Alfaro, 24, of Arlington, was charged with assault.

BURGLARY, 02/10/12, 23100 block of N. Wilson Boulevard. Between 9 pm on February 9, and 7:15 am on February 10, an unknown subject(s) entered a business, forced entry into a locked office and stole various items. Stolen items included four laptops, an iPod and cashier’s checks. There is no suspect description.

UNLAWFUL ENTRY, 02/11/12, 5000 block of S. 8th Road. On February 11 at 5 am, a female resident awoke to a unknown suspect standing in her bedroom. When the victim started questioning the suspect, he fled down the stairs of the house and out the back door. The suspect is described as a Hispanic male, approximately 5’8″ tall, 200 lbs, with short black hair.

Wow, good find! How many perps do you think fail to realize helicopters have thermal imaging systems? Being a police helicopter pilot probably entails many jokes on the behalf of @$$hat criminals courtesy of FLIR.

rory

You can still get away….My brothere did in his teenage years. He hid in an unlocked garage.

North Pershing Drive

Ah, they grow up so fast.

Allthatglittersisnotgold

Busy week for the cops! I thought Arlington had no crime! Seriously though, kudos to the PD…looks like they took a few bad guys off the street.

JamesE

16 bags of crack is pretty ballsy, I try to keep it to 10 or under when I go shoplifting.

KalashniKEV

If we’re going to be hosting all these Bums, paying for their care and feeding, and tolerating their crimes, I demand a Bumfighting league.

If they hold the events it in ArtisFAIL, it could turn things around!

Village Genius

Long ago a friend working as a probation officer tried to reason with some of his regular “clients” by explaining that they were not very good at crime because they kept getting caught and that maybe another line of work would be better suited for them. A few actually took the advice and changed careers.

Andy

23100 block of N. Wilson Blvd? That must be one of those secret addresses.

JamesE

23100 N. Wilson is in ashburn

drax

Maybe it’s a pipestem.

susan

I attended the Radnor-Ft. Myer Hts Civic Association meeting last evening to hear Peter Katz (the Smart Growth Guru). The Second District police commander and his staff were there for their semi-annual “don’t worry, be happy, we have crime under control” meeting with citizens. Everythng we along fine until someone in the audience (he was with Audrey Clement) asked about armed robberies. At which point both the Second District Commander (Captain Penn) and Stanley Karson (the civic association president) became very agitated and hostile. Well, as it turns out, armed robberies are up significantly in the Second Police District, something the police did not want to discuss.

Ashton Heights

At the Ashton Heights Meeting a report was made of 3 burglary attempts in February alone. Which is a lot.

Allthatglittersisnotgold

Staffing numbers at the PD are the lowest they have been in many years…they cannot keep police officers long enough due the low salaries. People get hired and quickly move on to better paying law enforcement positions with the feds. Add in the rash of retirements due to changes in pensions and benefits…the results are less cops on the street. Unfortunately, you will never hear any of the top police brass at the community meetjngs address that, as they will face backlash from the board. I have called out the PD officials on this several times at my association meetings and have received a straight answer only once. That captain basically said the board requests the PD to focus on “traffic and motorist” safety above all else. Seems like they rather have their officers be ticket writers. I’ve spoken to numerous young officers around town and a few have said they need to bring in tickets to keep their bosses happy. I was even told once, “The board and Chief dont want felonies…they want dollars.”
If that’s any indication on how the street officers are instructed to do…then Captain Penn’s reaction is no surprise.

KalashniKEV

Weak! If he needs someone to blame, he should look in the mirror before citing how the county board would “like” the laws to be enforced.

He should get flushed with all the other senior leaders and start with a clean slate and a new organizational culture focused on Law Enforcement rather than revenue collection.

Doing more with less starts with doing your job in the first place!

Ken

We should not laugh but be very concerned when we read about inept criminals. What it indicates is that the word is out that we are easy targets.

awh hells bells

From reading the crime reports on ARLnow or the APD website there does seem to be many crimes committed in Arlington by people who reside in surrounding areas and other states.

I don’t like to generalize and think of all Arlingtonians as easy targets, but there are many with their heads in the clouds. ‘Hardening’ your property through landscaping or home-improvements help deter potential criminals. On an individual level, ‘posturing’ and being aware of your surroundings, even in your own neighborhood, can make potential criminals think twice and consider an easier target.

I’ll still reserve my right to laugh at the botched attempts of criminals. I take their actions seriously, but in the hope that they might read these posts, I hope they get embarassed and realize the masses will mock them senselessly if they commit crimes. Better yet let’s bring back the pillory and pelt them with rotten fruit.

Curious George

I agree about the “easy target” statement.

I am in no way trying to blame the victim but I see so many young women walking around after dark not paying attention to what is around them. Sometimes on cell phones or with headphones on.

I always say to myself that I hope I don’t see them mentioned in the next crime report.

In a perfect world they should be perfectly safe but this is not a perfect world. There are predators out there.

thatguy

Agreed, a lot of the folks are from DC and MD. Maybe we need to start taking advantage of our right to open carry. Although, I think some of these criminals will still try to mug you or steal your purse without realizing you have a 6 shooter on your hip. What are the rules around shooting a dumb a$$ criminal in the knee caps?

thatguy

I am serious about the laws around shooting a criminal while open carrying. I know there are a few lawyers on this forum, dish some info out!

Curious George

Don”t call it shooting criminals.

Call it a very late term abortion. That should be acceptable around here.

Ashton Heights

Two ACPD experiences:
1. Trying to cross Clarendon Blvd in crosswalk next to Whole Foods. Two ACPD officers were standing in front of Starbucks watching and laughing while my dog and I were almost run down by speeding drivers ignoring the crosswalk. When we finally got across, and asked the officers if they had seen what happened; one said “Yeah, Arlington is a dangerous place for pedestrians.”
2. Walking in neighborhood. Encountered ACPD motorcycle parking on and blocking sidewalk. Officer was hiding behind tree trying to catch people driving in middle of road to avoid speedbumps. I suggested he would be more useful catching drivers trying to run down pedestrians in crosswalks. He said he was just following orders. I suggested there was probably a better place to park his motorcycle. He said no, he had to hide it or nobody would drive down the middle of the street.

Curious George

Call the police in the police. I have done it twice in the last 10 years when ACPD parked in cross walks and the situation was resolved.